If the pens are retaining 5 mil a year for 4 years then knies is going to be part of the return instead of roberston

Karlsson doesn't have much value even at half retained because of his age, injury history, and length of contract. I don't think the Pens can do better than this.

the penguins laugh you out the room

Have you ever seen him play?

You have to be joking. First, Dubas made it clear that Karlsson is considered part of the core and he's not touching the core. Second, no way Dubas will retain $5M for three more years when they plan on trying to be a playoff team.

Yeah, you're absolutely wrong and they're also not moving him. Karlsson's analytics have been great, his production has been excellent and he's not part of the problem other than not being great on the PP. He has 19 points in his last 20 games. Dude is killing it.

I just think it'd be wise for the Pens to get ahead of this thing and go full rebuild. Trade Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson this deadline, get a load of picks and prospects, and be competitive in 3-5 years.

No and there's ZERO chance they retain $5M. Zero. And what you think as far as a rebuild is irrelevant. They're not rebuilding yet. Dubas made that clear and you're not Dubas.

I just don't want Dubas damaging another franchise and wasting the twilight years of Hall of Famers. But I think that ship has sailed.

He's not wasting it. The biggest issue this team has faced are some normally consistent players, i.e. Smith and Rakell having off-years and the PP not clicking. If Smith and Rakell simply produced at their normal rate of production and the PP was league average the Pens are likely in 2nd or 3rd place. There are things that are unfortunately out of a GM's control no matter how good they are.

Even with Graves not being a good fit and EK not clicking on the PP, the Pens defense is actually league average or better on most defensive categories. Things are fixable/tweakable and don't need extreme measures like this.

EDIT: Karlsson is on pace to put up between 60 and 70 points, and that's without what would normally be a good 10 to 20 point bump from PP points. Let that sink in. He's fine.

The top pairing would possibly be the worst defensively in leafs history.

But best offensively

Insert Pickard facepalm meme

Have you watched him play at all this year ? Or maybe the last few years ? He’s having another great season . He won the Norris last season . That’s not a player you trade away for mostly scraps while retaining 20 million dollars . You clearly must think highly of him to immediately plop him onto the top pairing of a cup hopeful team

At 5 million he's a top 4 defenceman. At anything more he's not worth having in the line up. That's the conundrum. That's why everyone was perplexed Dubas went out and traded for him at 10 million. People assumed he was getting him at half price.

EK65 is terrible until he becomes a leaf then he is a undisputable star player for the rest of his deal.

Who is “everyone” ??
He literally shed over 10 mil in dead cap in the deal ? And got back a superstar defenseman that’s one of the best in the league lol? A lot better than the moves tre made this summer 😂😂😂